The Dark Side of Love
by samanddianefan10
Summary: Christine has a secret, and she is unwilling to share with anyone, especially Harry. How long will it take Harry to figure out what's going on, and will she let him help her? Rated T for some violence
1. Chapter 1

At first everything was great. Tony was quite the charmer, and had almost literally swept Christine off her feet. He said all the right things, called her every night, brought her presents. She thought she would die a happy woman if anything should happen to her at that moment in her life. She'd never met a guy so charming (with the possible exception of Harry Stone), so sweet, so tender. She didn't give herself to just anyone, but she had given herself to Tony almost right away. It was hard not to get carried away by his affections and pet names he'd given her. Cupcake was her favorite one.

She had told everyone how happy she was, how wonderful things with Tony were, how she swore she had found the man she would marry. In the back of her mind she knew that she was hurting Harry, but it wasn't as if he had come out and declared his feelings for her. No, their ships had sailed, and now she was moving on. If he was happy for her, he hadn't said, but still greeted her with a joke and a friendly smile every time he saw her.

The first time was the worst. She'd been caught off guard when, after going out of her way to make a fancy meal for Tony, he shocked her by calling it worse than army gruel, and threw his plate on the floor, shattering her Princess Diana wedding day collection duplicate to the floor. She was devastated. He had to know how much she adored Princess Diana, and those collectables were getting harder and harder to come by.

She was hurt at first, angry, then she realized she was to blame. Maybe if she was a better cook, this wouldn't have happened to her. She had tried so hard to please Tony, but apparently she hadn't. So she would try harder next time.

She started going to the library, checking out cookbooks. Sometimes he would nod his head of approval, other times he would simply walk away telling her he was going to McDonald's. Christine knew she wasn't the best of cooks, but she couldn't understand why he was treating her this way.

She wanted to talk to Harry about it, but for some reason Christine felt like she couldn't. In the back of her mind she knew that Harry would blame Tony, and he wouldn't see that it was all her fault. Maybe if she'd paid closer attention in home ec this wouldn't have happened. She would just try harder, that was all.

There was the night she cooked what she thought was the perfect dinner. She even put flowers on the table, and surely Tony would be pleased at what length she'd gone to to make him happy. But if he was hungry he didn't act like it. He told her he was in the mood, and she knew what that meant. To be honest, she wasn't feeling it after slaving all day on a meal that was to go unserved, but something about Tony's mood struck her strangely. She had a feeling that there would be hell to pay if she didn't go along with his request, so she did, closing her eyes and pretending she were somewhere else the entire time.

The next day she wasn't in a very good mood. Harry tried and tried to make her laugh, but his charms failed to work on her. She did her job, but just barely. She wound up asking Harry if he wanted to go out for breakfast, but he said that he was too tired, could they take a rain check? In a way she was glad he said no, for if Tony found out that she had had a meal with another man, he wouldn't be happy. At first the jealousy was cute. She felt desirable and cared about. But now it got to the point if another man even looked at her, he would fly into a fit of rage. He would blame her, calling her all sorts of names. In the back of her mind she felt like she didn't deserve this. She would never cheat on Tony. But that didn't matter. All that mattered was that she gave her undivided attention to Tony.

It wasn't as if the affections were returned. Sometimes when she started to speak about something important to her, like one of her cats, Tony would interrupt her or tell her to shut up. She didn't understand why he acted like this. At first he had hung on her every word. Now she was beginning to feel stupid or like she was crazy when she spoke, so now usually Christine waited for Tony to initiate the conversations.

This was all too much, all too soon. In the back of her mind she'd seen many abusers and controllers, but for some reason she couldn't process what was happening to her. All she knew was that she wanted to keep Tony happy at all costs, and if it meant trying a little harder to be perfect, then she would.

Sometimes, at night, especially after one of their many fights, Christine would think to herself that Harry would never treat her like Tony did. But then she would close her eyes, and pray that it would be soon time for work.


	2. Chapter 2

So Christine went along with her life, trying to pretend that her reality actually wasn't happening. She was a sharp attorney- she defended many abusers who'd she considered scum of the earth. But to her, that happened to other women, not to her. It would be too hard to admit what she was starting to suspect- that she was in fact in an abusive relationship.

The honeymoon periods were wonderful. Tony could be so sweet and so charming when he wanted to be. The problem was, he tended to save his charm for other people. Only Christine knew he had a dark side, and part of her still wanted to protect him. After all, that's what you did when you were in love, right?

Sometimes she would look in the mirror and hate what she'd seen. Maybe if her hair was longer, wasn't so tall, maybe none of this would be happening to her. All she could think of was that she knew that Harry Stone never would have never laid a hand on her. He was so kind, so gentle. Why couldn't Tony be more like Harry?

Part of her really wanted to confide in Harry, let him know what was going on. But she knew him too well- he would risk his life and career to protect her. She knew how hard he'd worked to become a judge, and she wouldn't let him throw away his livelihood for her. Maybe she wasn't worth it. She was starting to feel that way, anyhow, and to confuse things by allowing herself to acknowledge her true feelings for Harry, well that was just too complicated.

One night, she found herself sitting alone at a lunch table, and who should walk up to her but her good old friend, Harry?

"Hey Christine. A penny for your thoughts. You seem like you're a million miles away. What's the matter, Jack Frost nipping at your nose?" He reached over to playfully tweak her nose, but she jerked back abruptly.

"Hey," he said, his voice changing to a concerned one. "What's wrong? Did I do something wrong?"

She couldn't even look at him. Maybe he wouldn't feel the same way about her if he knew what she was allowing in her personal life. "I'm sorry, Your Honor. I just am a little tired, that's all."

"Your Honor? Hey we're on break. Whatever happened to your good friend, just plain Harry?" he smiled at her.

"I don't know...I just don't know.." she started to cry, neither of them sure about her sudden mood swing.

Harry knew that he liked to be a class clown most of the time, but he also had a huge heart, and if one of his friends was hurting, then he was hurting too. "Hey, Christine. Is there something you would like to talk to me about? I hope you know that I consider you a close friend and I care about you very much. I haven't known how to bring this up, but I think I should now. You seem a little out of sorts these days, is there anything I can do to help?"

For the first time she almost felt like completely breaking down. She knew that Harry was the only person she could trust, but she had no idea of what Tony was capable of doing. If he'd ever hurt Harry then Christine knew she could never live with herself.

"Your Honor...Harry...can I ask you a question?" she asked softly.

"Hey," he took her hand, and this time she didn't pull back. "You can ask me anything. I would hope you would know that by now."

"Have you ever wished...I don't know, this might sound silly to you...have you ever wished you were someone else? That you were living someone else's life?"

"Are you kidding? I'd give my left leg if I could be Mel Torme's doorman!" Harry laughed, before seeing how serious she was. "I don't know, I'm sure there are things in my life I can change. Human beings have an incredible gift for changing when they put their minds to it. Is there a reason you asked?"

"No, I was just thinking," Christine sighed.

Harry took her chin and nudged her to where she was making eye contact with him. "Miss Sullivan," he said in his most authoritative voice. "Is there something wrong in your life that I should know about?"

Oh how she wanted to tell him. But Harry wasn't a big man, and Tony was all muscle. If he would hurt a woman surely he wouldn't think twice about injuring another man. "Oh Harry. I just...I think I miss you. Does that make any sense?"

"Yes, Christine. That makes all the sense in the world. In fact, there is something I've been meaning to discuss with you for some time. I know that you're seeing someone, and I'm happy for you. But I've been doing a lot of thinking. I, too, miss my old friend. And seeing you in tears, well to be honest it breaks my heart. Now Christine," he said reassuringly. "Are you sure there isn't anything I can do for you?"

"There is one thing," she whispered. "Can I get...can I get a hug?"

He was more than happy to oblige. As she leaned in against his shoulders she couldn't help but thinking that this was what real love felt like. For a minute she thought he was going to confess to something, but he hadn't, so apparently she was back where she started. But for now she had her friend, and she wouldn't trade this moment for all of the money in the world.


End file.
